EOIR Press Release on New EOIR Director

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21, 1998 (703) 305-0289

WWW.USDOJ.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

ATTORNEY GENERAL APPOINTS KEVIN D. ROONEY AS DIRECTOR OF EOIR

Washington, D.C. -- Attorney General Janet Reno announced the appointment today of Kevin D. Rooney to be the Director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). Rooney has been the Assistant Director for Administration in the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) since March 1997. As Director of EOIR, he will succeed Anthony C. Moscato, whom the Attorney General has appointed to the Board of Immigration Appeals. Both Rooney and Moscato are expected to assume their respective new positions in January 1999.

Before his current assignment in BOP, Rooney had served as Associate Director of EOIR for 2 years. Before then, he was in private law practice in Washington from 1984 to 1995. He has prior Department of Justice service as the Assistant Attorney General for Administration from 1977 to 1984, serving as the chief management and financial officer of the Department during the tenures of Attorneys General Griffin Bell, Benjamin Civiletti, and William French Smith. He also served as Executive Assistant to the Associate Attorney General and as a member of the management and budget staff from 1973 to 1977.

Rooney began his Federal career with the Veterans Administration in 1967 as a computer systems analyst in medical applications. He is a U.S. Army veteran and a graduate of St. Mary's Seminary and University (B.A.) and George Washington University's National Law Center (J.D.). He is a member of the Virginia and District of Columbia Bars.

Rooney and his wife Annette have two daughters: Katie, a second year law student at George Washington University, and Mary Beth, a junior at McLean (VA) High School.